“Ceasefire” and a “Peace Agreement”: The Bare Minimum for a Free Palestine
Labour for Palestine - Canada, after hearing the response from Palestinians, welcomes the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, the 1st phase of which took effect on October 10, 2025. As imperfect as it is, it was the perseverance and steadfastness of the Palestinian people, and their resistance movement, that made this possible after two years of a genocidal war and unspeakable atrocities.
The level of destruction in Gaza over the past 2 years is comparable to the horrors witnessed in Hiroshima during WWII. Israel, with support of Western allies and puppet Arab regimes, dropped over 70,000 tons of explosives, destroying 92% of Gaza, including homes, schools, mosques, universities, churches, municipal buildings, public infrastructure, agricultural facilities etc. The most recent official death toll is more than 67,000, but the real number is expected to be as high as 500,000 Palestinians murdered by Israel.
Despite unspeakable atrocities and war crimes perpetrated against them, Palestinians have once again frustrated US-Zionist ethnic cleansing plans. Israel failed to achieve any of its stated objectives using military aggression, and the mass return of the Palestinian people to their destroyed cities and homes in Northern Gaza after the Israeli Occupation Force was forced to withdraw, illustrates once against that after 77 years the right to return is sacrosanct
The extent to which Israel will honour the full agreement (which stipulates freeing 2000 Palestinian hostages in exchange for the Israelis, allowing sufficient aid into Gaza, and the withdrawal of their forces to an agreed to line) is contingent on a number of factors including the unity of all Palestinian political forces. Palestinians, including resistance forces, unions and civil society organizations have all unequivocally rejected any foreign rule or mandate over the Gaza Strip and have made it clear that issues of governance, weapons and administration are internal Palestinian matters. These must be discussed and agreed to by Palestinians themselves.
Our role as an internationalist solidarity movement will become even more important now. Consequential gains have been made by the global solidarity movement over the past 2 years to isolate the Israeli regime, with millions of people marching in weekly Palestine solidarity demonstrations, demanding an end to the genocide and their government’s complicity, including Canada. We have challenged the pro-genocide and anti-Palestinian zionist forces and their narrative in the media, the streets, workplaces, universities, schools, unions and communities across the country. Entire generations have learned about the true history of Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid. Our resistance and solidarity in Canada, informed by the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and in response to their call for support, must continue.
Israel continues to be led by a war criminal, with an outstanding International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant . Netanyahu, his ministers and his generals as well as complicit world leaders who have facilitated these unspeakable crimes against the Palestinians must be brought to justice.
As the 1st phase of the ceasefire takes effect, we know the aspirations of zionist expansionism and imperialist profit and control of Palestine and the rest of the region are far from over. We need to continue to be vigilant against violations of the terms of the agreement, drawing lessons from Lebanon where UN sources have recorded 6,300 Israeli violations including daily air strikes since the ceasefire supposedly took effect on November 27, 2024. Israel has since killed hundreds of Lebanese citizens in contravention of the terms of the ceasefire agreement and continues to illegally occupy parts of South Lebanon, carrying out regular attacks against villagers trying to rebuild their homes and towns.
We must amplify calls from Palestine to the global solidarity movement, particularly trade unions and mass movements, to support the goals of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and to redouble our efforts to isolate Israel’s regime of oppression by ending all state, corporate and institutional complicity with it.
As part of the global solidarity movement in Canada, we reiterate our call on the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and all its affiliates to declare all products, services and relationships with the Israeli apartheid regime as Hot Cargo not to be touched by workers of conscience, including cutting ties with Israel’s socalled trade union center the Histadrut.
The genocide against the Palestinian people did not start on October 7th, 2023. It will not end with this agreement. While we celebrate an end to the mass horrors we have witnessed over the past two years, we know the fight is far from over. We need to continue building a powerful internationalist solidarity movement with Palestinian people and workers until the siege is lifted, the zionist occupation & settler-colonialism ends, the apartheid system is dismantled, and Palestine is free.